


How It All Fell Apart

by KyeAbove, Ohaymikoto



Series: The Reinforcement Of Agony AU [6]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Horror, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-06 13:39:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18389531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohaymikoto/pseuds/Ohaymikoto
Summary: December 21st, 1905. Rural Arkansas. Agony: ???Even Casper had a loving mother and father once in his life.





	1. how the peaceful times come to an end

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 of this story is sweet. The second won't be as much. This series is not kind.

~December 21st, 1905~

* * *

The afternoon was peaceful. Pete the dog liked peaceful. He loved taking naps when it was just like this. Sadly, he couldn't lay down for a nap now. He had to keep a close eye on Junior. Junior was an infant child of around seven months with a thin layer of vibrant red hair and big curious blue eyes that stared at anything new in pure awe. He likened the child to a curious pup.  
  
Junior had recently learned to crawl on all four, and was now eagerly crawling around the house. He was exploring many places, aside from those thankfully barred from his access. Pete the dog remained vigilant by his side and occasionally redirected him when he approached any form of little danger, like a corner.  
  
All in a day's work.  
  
"I'm home!" His sharp ears perked up at the sound of his master's voice. He looked to the door to see Russell Sr hanging his coat up from another long day of shoving snow, in their own yard and in the roads. Pete barked, and lifted Junior up gently by the scruff of his clothing. He pawed over to his master, who smiled brightly at the sight of him and his son.  
  
"Hey there Pete, all tuckered out from watching Junior?" Russell Sr said as he laughed and picked his son up into his arms, and then scratched Pete the dog behind the ear. Just the way Pete loved it. He wagged his tail happily. Junior tugged at his father's auburn hair while babbling baby gibberish.   
  
The smell of food lured them all into the kitchen eventually. There his master's wife hummed happily. Sally was a kind housewife, her vibrant red hair and blue eyes mirrored in her son. He pawed over to her and brushed against her. She looked down and smiled.  
  
"Hungry?" She stepped away from her current cooking and fetched his bowl which she sat down on the floor for him then resumed cooking. He eagerly dove into his food. So delicious!  
  
Sally went over to the table where her husband and son now sat. The couple shared a kiss before food was distributed. Junior was given something soft since his parents were starting to introduce solid food to him. The two adults talked about happenings throughout the day. Pete saw the tired sparkle in his master's soft eyes.   
  
He could tell the bond of love was strong between them. They had not allowed to take a mate, citing alternatives.   
  
The dinner came and went. Russell Sr and Sally went to sit in the living room with little Junior climbing between them. The gramophone was playing a calm tune, his master was reading something while Sally was knitting a scarf that was pretty long now. Pete could almost liken it to a rope. Maybe it was a toy for him?  
  
It was Sally who first noticed her son's eyes starting to drop. She chuckled softly and sat aside her scarf knitting then picked him up into her arms. Pete perked up from his light nap when she stood up and began walking towards the stairs leading up to the second floor of the house. He diligently followed after her.  
  
Once on the second floor she walked until she reached Junior's nursery and entered. Pete slipped inside before she closed the door. He went about fetching a small teddy bear with his mouth while she changed Junior into his sleeping wear. He was a good boy like that.  
  
Sally finally lowered her son into his crib and then snuggled the bear close to him. Junior was so tired from all the crawling he'd done that he fell asleep very quickly. Pete laid down on his usual spot near his crib, as a guardian of sorts. Sally smiled down at him and patted him on the head before leaving the room. Pete the rested his head on his paws and relished in the peaceful night....  
  
Pete suddenly sprang up in alarm. He'd felt _it_. A cold shiver all the way into his bones. A danger was descending upon his home and his family. Pete growled as he stood loyally next Russell Jr's crib, he would protect the sleeping child from any danger that may come.  
  
The dog barred his canines fiercely when he heard the front door of the Hatheway household blast off it's hinges.


	2. Chapter 2

Josie Andrews had felt it. A deep chill of dark magic wash over her and drill itself into the marrow of her bones. Witches who practiced dark magic and it's arts had a very cold aura that was felt from a mile away by non-dark witches, like Josie. She'd felt the chill very close by and she feared greatly for her life...

But the chill had passed without ever once nearing her way.

For this she was grateful. She had confidence in the barrier she had erected around her home, but she still had feared greatly. It wasn't until an hour had passed upon the chill leaving that she dared to venture out. Her common sense would yell at her curiosity, but she needed to know why so many dark witches had crossed this close to her path.

She held her winter coat tightly to her body as the cold December night laid eerily around her. The wind was still and it was silent. It felt like a bad omen for a ferocious storm. The trail of dark magic lead her further away from her own house and towards one she knew.

The Hatheway household.

Josie knew Russell and Sally Hatheway. They were a kind pair and often stopped by to chat with her. They weren't the kind to dabble in the darker arts of magic, so why did their house positively reek of dark magic?

She apprehensively approached the front door and saw it had been blasted off its hinges now barely hanging on to the doorframe. Josie carefully walked past it and into the house to find an eerie sight.

Everything had been torn apart and tainted with curses.

It was like stepping into a frigid blizzard, Josie first saw the kitchen and all cabinets were just like the front door. Barely holding on and some having already fallen. The dinner table had lost one leg and food was laying discarded on both the floor and on the kitchen counter. She then turned her gaze forward and stepped into the living room to find the couch ripped apart with it's stuffing spewing everywhere and many books having their pages torn out. The gramophone was still playing a very scratchy and jumpy tune.

Then she saw the back door hanging open.

She felt even darker energy coming from that direction, With a nervous gulp Josie went into the garden and saw a horrific sight.

A dog was hanging from a tree, Josie knew that dog was the Hatheways family dog Pete. She'd given him a treat once or twice and had petted him a lot. She rushed up to him and her horror increased as she could finally take in his true state.

He was dead. In a very gruesome fashion to boot. Josie took him down from the tree and saw that the rope was in fact a long knitted scarf. Most likely a craft of Sally's. She laid Pete's body down softly on the snow and despite feeling sick to her stomach inspected his body. The scarf had been tightly tied around his neck. It was like he'd been lynched after he'd been killed.

She gagged at how his stomach was cut open and all of his inner organs had been removed. A clean dig out leaving nothing behind but the empty skeleton and rib cage. She gently moved his head and saw his skull having been cracked open, exposing parts of his brain. His limbs had been snapped like twigs and bent in unnatural ways.

It was beyond barbaric and cruel.

Josie crawled away from the poor dog and vomited into a bush. The putrid stench was nothing compared to the gutted and brutalized pet laying on the snowy ground. After she'd emptied her stomach she shakily returned to Pete's side. She softly touched his forehead and her eyes glowed. She had to know what caused this.

_Yelling and screaming came from behind the door. His master and his wife screaming for whoever was approaching to leave their baby alone. He growled and stood ready as the door swung open with a loud roar, revealing a cloaked figure._

_Judging from his scent, it was a male._

_The man clad in dark robes and radiating a frigid cold drew nearer the crib as Junior started to stir. Pete barked loudly and leapt for the man's leg. His sharp canine teeth dug through the man's pants leg and into the flesh hidden underneath._

_Blood coated his teeth and drizzled down his tongue. A vile taste. The man yelled in pain and tried to shake him off but his grip was firm. At this point Junior had woken up and started to cry loudly for comfort. The poor boy was frightened. The man cursed and kicked Pete in the head._

_It hurt and he crumpled to the floor._

_"Damned beast." The man hissed and limped over to the crying baby. He reached down with a hand and touched the top of his head. Pete the dog couldn't tell what he was doing but he could sense his displeasure. "A core of love!? What use is that...your life is of no use to us after all." The man retracted his hand into his dark cloak and returned out with a gleaming dagger. The downed dog felt his need to protect Junior override his pain and injury, so he unsteadily rose to his paws. He stumbled over and again bit at where he'd bitten before._

_Again the cloaked man yelled in pain and snarled at the dog feebly gripping onto his injured leg. He again kicked him away and this time turned fully with dagger in hand towards the injured pet._

_Pete received another kick to his head. The pain was rather dull compared to the pain derived from hearing poor Junior cry like that...another kick was dealt and his consciousness begun to fade._

_His last thought..._

_'Sorry...master...Sally...Junior,sorry...not protect..'_

Josie pulled her hand away and her eyes stopped glowing as tears escaped her eyes, she softly slid the poor dog's eyes closed. Made it look like he was taking a peaceful rest if anyone could ignore the rest.

She would have to bury him later. The shaken and still crying woman made her way back inside. She looked at the empty house and knew from the dog's memory none of the Hatheways could be left in the house...then she heard it.

A muffled cry, coming from upstairs.

She walked to the foot of the stairs and kept listening. The cries continued and she slowly ascended up to the second floor of the house then walked towards a room with a door barely holding on. She cautiously entered to find a nursery and a crib from where the cries originated.

Little Russell was still alive.

Josie rushed over and bent over the crib to find the infant crying but she gasped upon the sight of his face. There was blood on his face and it looked smeared on. She softly scooped the baby into her arms and rocked him in her arms. He kept crying for a while until it turned into soft hiccups. The poor child was clearly scared and confused.

Josie quickly took the baby downstairs and into the kitchen where the water was still running as it should. It was a delicate process of cleaning the blood off of the baby boy's face and making sure none of it came into his mouth or eyes. She held him close once he'd been fully cleaned and dried off.

Humming a soft lullaby to keep him soothed Josie took little Russell to see his dog. He was still laying there in the snow in a mock sleep. She kneeled down next to the dead dog and shifted little Russell around so he could see his dog, but not in a way he'd see the brutalization. 

"He's alive. He's safe and unharmed. You protected him, you did well...rest easy now." She spoke softly, hoping her words could reach the spirit of the dog that no doubt still lingered uneasy and without peace. She felt a shift in energy and the air got a little lighter. The dog's spirit must've finally found peace knowing he hadn't failed.

"Woof woof?" Little Russell babbled innocently and reached a small hand for the dog. Josie kept him close however and knew they could not linger at the house for much longer. She used some magic to summon a shovel and lift up the dead dog to bury him. Both of the floating items followed after her back into then through the house and out again to the front portion of the house.

She found a place close to the front porch, and instructed the shovel to dig which it did very quickly. Soon a hole big enough to fit the dog stood empty and slowly embraced the animal as he was lowered down below the ground. Then the shovel quickly covered the hole once more and inserted itself into the ground as a form of marker for the grave. Josie would have to make a proper marking later.

The woman then stepped away from the house and gazed at it. It still oozed of dark magic, like a beacon of sorts. Dark witches would surely flock to this area like cats to catnip if it was allowed to stand for longer. Josie knew what she had to do to keep both her and little Russell safe from their dark clutches.

She raised her hand and pointed her fingers at the house as her eyes began to glow once more and she recited the incantation.

"Sparks of ambers from deepest pyre, gathered to me with deepest ire. Destroy that which has been tainted and leave nothing to the belated. Ashes to ashes, may it all disappear..." Josie snapped her fingers and a spark flew towards the house, and a big explosion of roaring fire engulfed the house. It roared like a dying wolf and the fire danced like taunting fae, however...the fire hide not the dark magic embedded into the walls of the house and so it burnt black.

The black flames danced in the cold December night as the Hatheway house crumbled into a heap of darkened wood and ashes. Pete the dog's grave stood untouched from the destruction and Josie began making her way back to her home with little Russell safely tucked away in her warm arms.


End file.
